


Shut Me Up

by goodgollyzollie



Series: small college shenanigans [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, Drinking Games, Jealousy, Kissing, M/M, Partying, Recreational Drug Use, but like a tiny liberal arts college, but there are quite a few just populating the story, implied bokuroo and teruhana, the original characters are mostly minor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:13:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24530599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goodgollyzollie/pseuds/goodgollyzollie
Summary: It's the end of midterms! Tanaka and Noya make a bet and it's time to fucking party.(or Tanaka just wants to have a good night, but he runs into some problems along the way)
Relationships: Nishinoya Yuu/Tanaka Ryuunosuke
Series: small college shenanigans [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1792267
Comments: 10
Kudos: 67





	Shut Me Up

**Author's Note:**

> Really quick before you start: I'm opening up commissions for fic in exchange of donations to the BLM movement, please check my tumblr @goodgollywrites for more info and the deets. 
> 
> Happy reading!!
> 
> Part of my small college AU series— this is a stand alone that doesn't require the reading of other works in this series to enjoy it, but is part of a larger AU series :)

Exchange student life was mostly great. Besides living half a world away from family and friends back home, and the whole classes part of college, Tanaka was living the dream. And nothing was gonna fuck up his college dreams. Not even midterms.

“Hey,” he said, grabbing a chair at a table full of buzzing students in the dining hall, “how’s it going?”

“Hey, Tanaka!” His friend, Hana, scooched to make room at the table for him. “How are you?”

“I failed my Stats of Business exam,” he admitted, but after a couple ‘oh shit’s he waved his hand quickly. “So did everybody else so maybe the prof will just curve it. Anyway,” he drummed his fingers on the table, “it’s Friday, midterms are done, and you know what that means…”

“Time to get fucked up!” Terushima, the other Japanese exchange student in his friend group, walked up and clapped Tanaka on the shoulders. “I totally bombed that exam, dude.”

“Same, bro,” Tanaka assured him, “I think everyone else too.”

“No way.” Terushima shook his head. “Alisa and Winnie were saying that they felt really solid about this one.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah,” Terushima sighed, “but it’s cool. It’s Friday and midterms are done!”

Tanaka sagged against the table with a groan. “Dude, I cannot believe people could have passed it.” Undeterred, Terushima punched his shoulder. 

“ _It’s fine, don’t even think about it, bro. It’s done_ ,” he said in Japanese, switching back to English, “and guess what? It’s my lucky day! My plug got me not one, not two, but three bottles of that sweet, sweet Smirnoff on sale today.”

Hana laughed, clearly unimpressed. “And you’re gonna drink all that bargain vodka all by yourself?”

“No no no, sharing is caring, baby." Terushima leaned in closer to her. “And I care a lot about you.”

Hana rolled her eyes as the rest of the table laughed uproariously, shoving him away. “I’m only taking shots if it’s watermelon.”

Terushima pouted, pushing out his lip and rubbing his head where she had pushed him. “Oh damn. Too bad I only have one bottle of watermelon, you think that’ll be enough?”

Someone at the table laughed again, and Tanaka felt his phone buzz in his pocket. 

**noyaaa**

_I am so over this week_

_I legit might punch a wall_

_Where are you??_

**Ryuu**

_i feel u fr_

_at dinner with hana and teru where r u?_

**noyaaa**

_The room. I got pizza._

Tanaka looked around at the plates already piled with food around the table. Nothing good, which is to be expected on a Friday. They hardly bothered to put any food out since most people just got pizza or went out.

**Ryuu**

_for 2? pls_

**noyaaa**

_I’m offended you even need to ask, ofc_

Tanaka felt a warmth spread through his chest, because of course Noya would buy him pizza. It was Noya.

Now is probably a good time to share the small fact that Tanaka had a very minor crush on his roommate/best friend. It really wasn’t a big deal-- he never felt the need to act on it, especially since their relationship was solid where it was now. He’d helped Noya get ready for dates before, even, so he was kinda crushing it on the whole crush thing. The only reason that it was even worth thinking about was the fact that it was a crush he could not shake. No matter what (or who) Tanaka did, he couldn’t just let go of his feelings towards him.

He’d gotten caught up in the crush after he sat at the Japanese student union next to him during their first week of school. While Noya wasn’t an exchange student like Tanaka and Terushima (whom Tanaka also met at that meeting, though it was not friendship at first sight with them. A story for another time) he and Hana were both domestic students, Japanese Americans. Since that first meeting, where Noya had introduced himself with what Tanaka now recognized as a signature smile, he had been ever-so-slightly smitten.

Luckily, Tanaka really didn’t mind his feelings not being reciprocated. His friendship with Noya was ordinarily enough to get him through the whole unrequited love thing, so he wasn’t gonna let it ruin his life. It also helped that only Hana and Terushima knew how he felt, and since they understood Tanaka’s reasoning, they didn’t really bug him about it. And so Tanaka’s crush was safe and tucked away from the cruel light of truth.

Accept it an move on.

Tanaka grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder. Terushima looked up, eyebrow quirked. “And where are you off to?” He asked.

“Noya has pizza,” Tanaka gloated, which was met with a chorus of hungry and envious whines. 

“And he didn’t think to buy some for all of us?” Terushima complained. 

Hana elbowed him. “You can just buy yourself some,” she reminded him but he brushed her off.

“It’s the principle of it.”

Tanaka grinned at Terushima's haughty expression. “Roommate perks. Could have been you, if you hadn’t been an RA.”

Terushima groaned, rolling his eyes. “Stop it, I needed the room and stipend. And I regret it every time I have to wake up and let a resident in at two AM, so don't rub it in.”

“I’m sure you could get your own pizza and come eat with us,” Tanaka reasoned, and nodded to Hana. “Didn’t you need something from Noya?”

Hana nodded back and stood up with Tanaka. “I think he still has my corkscrew. I’m still deciding if I want my Aldi wine or vodka tonight.”

“Why not both?” Terushima chimed in. Tanaka saw on his screen that he was already placing an order on the Domino’s app.

Hana ignored him and picked up her dishes. “Can you wait two seconds while I-- thanks!”

She scurried off as Tanaka nodded, immediately stopping to talk to one of her committee member friends. 

Tanaka laughed at the sight, pulling out his phone to wait.

**noyaaa**

_I invited Alisa and a few of her friends to pregame with us tonight, hope that’s cool_

**Ryuu**

_sure man! entrsnce fee is either new shot glasses for us or beer, let em chose_

_teru and hana are also headed over with me rn_

**noyaaa**

_Awesome. I still have Hana’s corkscrew, whoops_

**Ryuu**

_oooooo she gonna kill you wow. flee the country_

**noyaaa**

_Lol shut up_

**Ryuu**

_never_

_u gotta make me bro_

**noyaaa**

_Is that a challenge_

Tanaka paused, fingers hovering over the screen. Challenges were serious. High stakes. And they had great rewards and great punishments. But there was no way that Noya was going to make him actually shut up, so it was a safe challenge.

**Ryuu**

_yeah it is_

_normal terms, u have until sunrise_

_u need to make me shut up tonight or u owe me the rest of your girl scout cookies. even the ones in the freezer_

**noyaaa**

_Damn okay. If I shut you up you give me all your beer_

_And shut up means…?_

**Ryuu**

_make me physically unable to speak for longenr than 10 seconds_

_deal?_

**noyaaa**

_Easy deal. The second you walk through the door it’s on_

Terushima must have noticed Tanaka’s smile because he was attempting to peek over his shoulder. “What’s going on there, buddy?”

“I’m gonna have the rest of Noya’s Girl Scout cookies by tomorrow morning,” Tanaka announced triumphantly. “He’s accepted an impossible challenge.”

“Woah, really?” Terushima laughed. “Nice score, bro. What is it?”

“He has to make me physically unable to speak for ten seconds.” Tanaka scoffed. “Which he can’t do. The only one who talks more than me is you.”

Terushima frowned. “Okay rude, asshole, but true. But he could tape over your mouth,” he warned, “or something like that.”

“He can’t reach my mouth to do shit like that,” Tanaka assured him. “I got this.” Terushima lifted his hands in mock surrender.

“Just sayin’, Noya’s sneaky when he wants,” Terushima reasoned. “I’m not gonna make bets on this one.”

“Hey, sorry,” Hana said, rejoining them. “Kharis was asking about the next meeting but I’m good to go now. Did you order pizza, Teru?”

“Fuck yeah I did!” Terushima declared proudly. “And I even got a lava cake for you." He brushed his bangs daintily off his forehead, throwing an easy grin over to Hana. "It’s okay, you don’t need to say it, I know I’m RA of the year.”

“The most humble RA of the year for sure,” Hana deadpanned. But Tanaka didn't miss the way her cheeks reddened as she turned her head away.

They waved to the table and left the dining hall. Tanaka had already looking forward to tonight all week-- and now, at the end of it all, he was going to get the cookies. Great from start to finish.

The walk from the dining hall to Tanaka and Noya’s dorm was less than three minutes-- one of the perks of going to a small school was that pretty much all of the main buildings were under a five minute walk or a two minute run, which was especially great when Tanaka slept through his alarm and had twelve minutes before his class started. 

Soon, he was throwing open the door to their room with Hana and Terushima in tow.

“It’s on, Noya!” He shouted at his roommate. Noya turned from his desk with a start (which was holding a box of pizza, a laptop playing Netflix, a haphazard stack of papers and books, and a pile of clothes) and caught his unbalanced laptop at the last second.

(And no, if you’re wondering, their room did not smell great.)

“It’s on, Tanaka!” Noya shouted back, and passed him the box of pizza. “How was your day?”

Tanaka shrugged, flopping down onto the fold out sofa under his lofted bed with a _fwump_. “I tanked an exam. But I’m ready to drown myself in beer ‘nd liquor at Foster tonight until I puke or pass out.”

“Good, good, healthy,” Noya said, nodding enthusiastically. “I support that plan. Don’t eat too much then.”

“Thanks for having my back.”

“Always, dude.”

Terushima walked over to Noya’s bed and threw his bag down. “I want to go to Foster too, but I told Mal I’d be at Spanish tonight,” he pouted.

“Ooooh,” Noya and Tanaka teased. Terushima turned to them with a flat expression. “Stop it. I want to be with you guys tonight, but he’s really hot. I’ve been trying to get with him for a week and a half.”

Hana hummed, pretending to stroke a nonexistent beard. “Tough choice. Your friends or some Spanish house guy.”

“It really is, but I've been chasing him hard.” Terushima slumped into a seated position against the wall next to his bag. 

Tanaka took a bite of pizza and moaned appreciatively. This hit differently after a shitty day. “Invite him to pregame with us if he doesn't have plans already, then you guys can leave after for Spanish or come with us to Foster. We can behave for your crush.”

Terushima wrinkled his nose. “He’s not my crush. He’s sexy and I wanna suck his dick or dance with him.”

“But definitely not a crush, don’t get it twisted,” Hana stage-whispered to Tanaka and Noya. Terushima ignored her, instead pulling out his phone. 

“What room are you guys again?”

“Grant 109,” Noya replied around a mouthful of pizza.

“He’s not my crush,” Terushima repeated, rounding on Hana, “so don’t get jealous. If you want, I’m sure you can join in.”

“I am not jel--”

Tanaka turned to Noya as they continued to bicker. “What time is Alisa getting here?”

“Nine, I think,” Not replied, flinging his half-eaten pizza slice back in the box and wiping his fingers on his pants before grabbing his phone. “Yeah, nine. Which means nine-fifteen to Alisa.”

“Then we got plenty of time to clean up.” 

Noya looked around the room. “You think it needs it?”

“Dude. Are the clothes on your desk clean or dirty?”

Noya shrugged, then seemed to reach an understanding because he nodded slowly. “I see. Okay, yeah. This place has suffered from midterms.”

It was uncharacteristically warm for mid-March, which was worrying for the environment but it did mean they could throw open the windows in hopes of getting rid of the pizza and stale sweat smell that currently permeated the air. They finished their pizza and crammed the remainder into a repurposed takeout container in the fridge, placing the box by the door. When Terushima and Hana left to get Terushima’s delivery, Noya and Tanaka started shoving clothes, books, random dishes, and other things away until most of the surfaces were clear. Tanaka saw a pile of clothes on his bed that he remembered resolutely not folding before going to take his exam, but no one would be stupid enough to try and climb up on his rickety bed while drunk tonight. He himself probably would just pass out on the couch, or even Noya’s bed, instead.

“Hey, Ryuu, I got a question.” Noya was rifling through his closet while Tanaka dug around under Noya’s bed for one of his shoes.

“Yeah?”

Noya lifted up two shirts. “Which one says ‘I haven’t slept in a week but I wanna look hot enough that nobody looks at my eyebags?’” 

Tanaka burst out laughing as their door opened with a bang. “Shut up, I have news,” Terushima announced. He smiled coolly at Tanaka’s venomless glare and continued. “Bokuto just posted that Spanish is merging parties with Foster, so now it’s just Foster tonight. Apparently Paoloma got food poisoning or something so she doesn’t want people in her house.” Bokuto was a house convener for Foster, meaning that he basically coordinated all house activities including parties (which were arguably more integral to campus life than the daytime events they threw from time to time.)

“So you’re not gonna ditch us tonight?” Tanaka asked, looking at the shirts Noya was waving at him again. Tanaka pointed at the black and red striped one-- not that it really mattered. He’d look hot anyway, eyebags or not.

Terushima and Hana settled on the floor with their food while Tanaka and Noya preened in front of the mirror.

"Hey, quick q," Terushima asked in a needling tone that suggested to Tanaka that he was trying to be annoying, "do you always get ready together like you're going to prom?"

Tanaka ran a hand over his head, frowning. “Should I buzz it again? It’s been like a month and a half.” Behind him, Terushima pouted "He's just gonna ignore me?"

Noya reached up to ruffle the strands. “It’s a little long. You’ve got your little curl down here.” On ‘here’, Noya’s fingers brushed against the nape of Tanaka’s neck. Tanaka barely suppressed a whole body shiver, instead passing his flinch off as feeling ticklish by laughing and pulling his neck out of Noya’s reach.

“Hey,” he protested weakly, “mean.” Noya chuckled and went back to trying different earrings. “It looks fine though. Just leave it, we can buzz it tomorrow if you want.”

Tanaka plucked a square black stud out of Noya’s palm. “These for the top, and the weird silver hoops on bottom.”

Noya smiled appreciatively and slipped them in the holes, then snorted. “I look like a TikToker with my hair down.” 

He stepped back from the mirror and tried his best impression of the Tik-Tok Look at Terushima. Terushima shook his head, mouth set in a flat line. “You just don’t have the appeal. Might be the height.”

“Oh, fuck you, I ooze appeal!” Noya crowed but Terushima just shrugged innocently.

“ _Sorry, I don’t speak English_ ,” Terushima replied in Japanese, which wound Noya up more. Lacking the fluency to express himself as eloquently in Japanese, he settled on flipping Terushima off and saying “ _Bakayarou_.”

Terushima raised his hand to his mouth with a scandalized gasp. Before he could respond, Hana said “Let Noya live his TikTok boy dreams, Teru. Can I have the last piece of pizza?”

Tanaka and Noya, once they determined they were hot enough to be seen out in the important social scene that was a theme house party, settled down to finish whatever Noya had been watching before Tanaka had come in. Tanaka wasn’t really paying attention, but he was happy to sit and scroll through his phone next to Noya. This was normally how they spent their evenings: thigh-to-thigh, watching something on someone's laptop while looking at phones. At some point, Hana got up to go get ready herself and Terushima followed soon after.

“You want a beer?” Tanaka asked Noya once they left. Not looking up from his screen, Noya nodded. He flinched as someone screamed and Tanaka smirked. “You gonna be scared to walk around in the dark tonight, buddy?”

“You’ll be with me, so no, not really,” Noya murmured, still not looking up, and Tanaka felt his face flush. 

“You saying that because you know I’ll protect you?” Tanaka teased. He was grateful to duck and open the fridge while he fought back the blush. He restocked it with a few lukewarm beers, noticing he still had a whole case buried under his pile of dirty clothes from his birthday. Noya seemed to have forgotten the challenge but if Tanaka did lose (which was very unlikely, of course) he’d be suffering a significant loss.

“Nah,” Noya said, finally glancing up as Tanaka passed him his beer, “anyone out there’ll just notice you first because you’re taller. If anything, I’ll be protecting you.”

Tanaka huffed and cracked open his beer. “Right, of course. I forgot how brave you are.”

On Noya’s show, the music stopped. Noya and Tanaka watched as the characters rounded a corner, coming face-to-face with what Tanaka assumed the creature they’d been running from was. They started screaming and trying to lurch out of the way from the claws. Noya blanched and gripped his beer can tighter.

“This is super dramatic, so of course it’s scary,” Noya stuttered at Tanaka’s smug smile. “Whatever. Cheers, Ryuu.”

They drank their beers and finished the episode Noya was on in relative silence. Noya was leaning against Tanaka with his head against his shoulder. Tanaka watched the way his fingers clenched and unclenched as the characters raced through the forest, the creature scrabbling behind them. Vaguely Tanaka considered how it would feel to hold Noya’s hand, but he brushed the thought off easily. 

Once the show ended, Noya snapped his laptop shut. “Okay, help me with the lights. They fell down again today.”

Tanaka groaned, chugging the final third of his beer before pushing a desk chair over to the window. Noya passed him the roll of tape and held the chair while Tanaka reached up to stick the string of lights up. Once he finished, he leaned back to take a look at the rest of the strand.

Without warning, Noya shook the chair under him with a suppressed laugh. “Dick,” Tanaka hissed, stretching to kick Noya, but he danced out of reach. 

“Too slow!”

Tanaka jumped down and chased after Noya, waving the tape menacingly, as his roommate laughed uproariously. 

“What are you gonna do with that?” He asked, circling so the chair was between them. 

“Stop running and you’ll find out,” Tanaka promised, which just made Noya laugh harder. Tanaka was laughing now too as he lunged for Noya across the chair. His fingers brushed across the back of Noya’s shirt, but he slipped away again, this time scrambling up to Tanaka’s bed.

Tanaka started to climb up behind him, flinging the tape up in hopes that it would hit Noya somehow. It did not. And now Noya had the tape. He jumped back but stumbled on a pillow Noya had knocked down off his bed, letting Noya have a second to slide off while Tanaka fought to keep his footing. Ultimately, Tanaka fell very ungracefully on his ass and Noya was able to pounce, straddling Tanaka and pinning one of his arms against his side and the other under his hand.

He tore at the tape with his teeth while Tanaka writhed under him, trying to shake the absolutely iron strong grip Noya’s thighs had on his waist. Had he not been fighting for his beer stash, he might have been a little turned on by the situation.

“Noya, no, Noy--” The rest of his plea was cut off by a victorious rip and Noya slapping a thick piece of duct tape over his mouth. 

He was very aware that this was exactly Terushima had said could happen.

He twisted his arm free but was immediately captured again.

“One, two, three--” 

Tanaka moved his jaw to free himself, hoping against hope that he’d work it off before Noya got to ten. It wasn’t looking good.

Tanaka’s saviors came in the form of a tall Russian and her posse of people who he didn’t know nearly well enough given the scene they walked into. Thankfully, in Noya’s surprise he briefly loosened his grip and Tanaka was able to wiggle an arm free to rip off the tape.

“Should we come back later, or...?” One of the girls asked, peering down at them. Noya groaned and flopped off Tanaka. 

“I want your beer,” he groused. “Why’d you have to be on time, Alisa?”

“What? I’m always on time.” Alisa laughed, apparently not caring about what she’d walked into, and waved the rest of her friends inside. 

Once Noya and Tanaka fixed their hair and clothes, their tussle on the floor forgotten as soon Noya brushed off Tanaka’s back, Tanaka hooked his phone up to the speaker. He scrolled Spotify through until he found his ‘fuck midterms, get wasted’ playlist. He’d been adding to it throughout the week, in between study sessions and group meetings, and was pretty pleased with the results.

(It was mostly shitty American pop but he happened to like shitty American pop.)

“Shots?” Noya asked, popping up as soon as Tanaka set his phone on the desk. He shook a white bottle in front of Tanaka invitingly. “Alisa brought us some new shot glasses _and_ Malibu.”

“I was kidding about that,” Tanaka laughed, taking the rum from him. Noya shushed him.

“Don’t let her hear you, dude. She can afford an entrance fee.”

Tanaka glanced around the room. Alisa was drinking deeply from a bottle of wine while one of her friends, Jess, danced around her and sang along to the song.“I doubt she’s listening.” 

“Looking good, Haiba!” 

Tanaka turned around to see Terushima and Hana walking through the door. Terushima was holding a suspiciously lumpy backpack, which was clinking as he crossed the room to Tanaka and Noya. Not for the first time, Tanaka wondered how the Student Life director had looked at Terushima and decided he’d be a good RA. They must have been desperate.

He was leading a stranger in-- Mal, Tanaka figured. He was pretty sure he’d had Intro to Psych last year with him, but Mal skipped a lot of those classes (Terushima had a type.) He was taller than Terushima by a few inches, with dark eyes that were taking in the scene with an almost amused air.

“Ooh, are we doing shots?” Terushima dropped his backpack on the fold-out and unzipped with a flourish. “I also believe Hana owes taking a couple shots with me, too.”

Hana ignored him, talking to Jess with her back fully turned to Terushima.

Tanaka waved Mal over. “Tanaka,” he said and cast a hand over the room. “Welcome to the crib, Mal.”

Mal smiled widely, looking around. “Well, thanks for inviting me to hang with you guys. My friends and housemates all got food poisoning so I was worried I’d have to pregame the end of midterms alone.”

Tanaka shook his head seriously. “We can’t have that. It’d be a college emergency.”

“Consider this your own personal pregame, then!” Noya said, clapping Mal’s shoulder.

“Yeah?” Mal raised his eyebrows. “I’m flattered, ah…”

“Call me Noya.” Noya smiled one of his signature smiles. Mal returned it with a twinkle in his eyes. 

“Noya,” Mal said brightly, looking Noya up and down. “Nice to meet you.”

Noya paused, blushing ever so slightly, before nodding. “Nice to meet you too, Mal." He rubbed the back of his neck, looking away briefly. 

Tanaka felt his eyebrows crinkle a bit. Then mentally scolded himself. If Terushima had a little competition for Mal’s attention tonight, then that was his problem, not Tanaka’s.

He grabbed the shot glasses and lined them up on his desk. “Okay, pregaming now. You wanna take one, Mal?” He asked, already pouring for him. If they were going to consider this to be Mal’s personal pregame, they were going to act like it.

Mal and Noya picked up their glasses with Tanaka. “Cheers!” Noya called, throwing back his gleefully. Tanaka saw Mal struggle to swallow his shot out of the corner of his eye and bit back a smile. Tanaka slammed his own glass down with a happy smack of his lips. 

He gestured to Noya and Mal. “Round two? Mal?” 

It could have been Tanaka’s eyes playing tricks on him, but he thought he saw a flicker of irritation cross Mal’s face. But just as quickly it was gone, and he placed his glass on the desk. 

“Sure, why not.”

Tanaka turned around to the larger group. “Hey Teru! Can we use your vodka?”

“Hell yeah, let’s go!” Terushima crowed, grabbing Hana’s hand and pulling her over with him.

After another round of shots with everyone, and Tanaka passed beers out to those who had no drink, Jess waved her hands wildly.

"Okay! I wanna play a game."

"King's Cup?" Noya suggested. 

Jess shook her head with a grimace. "I always get fucked over by that. I wanna play Pizza Box."

Alisa tipped her head back and groaned in protest, but Noya was already digging in Tanaka’s desk drawers for a sharpie. Tanaka grabbed an empty box and broke it down. 

"Everyone who wants to play, put your name down," Noya said and scribbled his name in an obnoxiously large bubble. 

Alisa and her friend Emma opted to lay on Noya's bed and sip a bottle of Bailey's while the rest of them sat in a loose circle around the box. Hana was cradling her bottle of Aldi wine lovingly and leaning on Tanaka. Mal sat between Noya and Terushima, but Terushima seemed too busy taking selfies with Jess to notice Mal and Noya whispering quietly to each other.

Mal knocked his knee against Noya’s with a small laugh, which Noya reciprocated. Tanaka’s fist clenched around his bottle, though he quickly forced his muscles to relax. He reminded himself that he’d helped Noya prepare for dates before, so this wasn’t really any different. It was like a pre-date. Shoving away whatever nasty feeling was crawling up his throat, he dug a quarter out of his pocket. “I’ll go first.”

The quarter landed on a blank spot and Tanaka grabbed the marker and drew a small box. _Under 5’5” drink._

“You can’t write that!” Jess whined, but was already lifting her beer to her lips. “That’s discriminatory.”

Noya also made a face, but took a drink of his beer too. “Gimme the quarter,” he said, scraping the coin off the box. He flipped it, and it landed squarely on Tanaka’s name. “Get fucked, Ryuu.”

Tanaka shrugged and took a swig of his Malibu. “Maybe I will, if I get lucky.”

Terushima groaned. “Stop being disgusting.”

Mal took the quarter from Noya. With a graceful flip, it landed right in the ‘O’ on Noya’s name. He looked somewhat abashed, but Noya shrugged and took another drink. “I made my name big for a reason, don’t worry.”

Terushima threw the quarter sloppily, landing on a blank space. He snatched the marker from Noya, thinking deeply for a minute. “Perfect,” he mumbled and started to write in huge letters. 

_Spin the bottle bitches_

“Wow,” Tanaka said deadpan, “a genius. And that’s not even a drinking thing.”

Terushima brushed him off, reaching past him and grabbing Tanaka’s Hydroflask instead from under the couch. “Until someone finishes their drink, we’re gonna use your VSCO bottle.”

He spun it wildly, all of them watching as it landed on Hana. Terushima’s face glowed red, but Hana leaned in quickly with a half-exhausted, half-amused sigh. She pecked Terushima’s mouth lightly, then settled back in next to Tanaka. 

Noya whooped, punching Terushima’s shoulder. 

“Did you see his face?” Tanaka muttered and Hana snickered. Terushima shot daggers at them.

Jess plucked the quarter out of his fingers and kissed it. “Aim true, little one,” she murmured and flicked it into the air. It arced through the air gracefully, and rolled to a blank space.

She shrugged. “Close enough.” She thought for a second, then leaned over to Hana to whisper something in her ear. Hana snickered and grabbed the marker. _5 10- 5 11 draaank._

Tanaka and Terushima laughed. “Cheers, man!” Terushima shouted, taking a sip from his bottle.

“Very specific,” Tanaka said, nodding to Jess before taking a drink. She just smiled.

If anyone said there was no skill in pizza box, then they’d never played with Hana before. She was able to target any spot on the box and make the coin land on it. She denied it, of course, but Tanaka knew better. He also knew Mal was her target-- he hadn’t drank yet, and Hana was somewhat of an “equal opportunist” when it came to drinking games. 

Despite the bubble he’d written his name in being approximately one square inch, the coin landed nearly entirely entirely within the bubble. 

“You’re magic, I swear,” Tanaka told her as Mal took a drink. She rolled her eyes and jabbed him in the side.

“Lucky shot.”

Tanaka could feel Noya’s gaze on him as he took the quarter from Hana. He looked up just as he flicked it into the air, meeting Noya’s eyes with a grin. It landed in a blank space just to the right of Noya’s name.

“Damn,” Tanaka sighed, “I’m sorry, bro. I’m trying to get you wasted, I swear.”

Noya sniffed. “I know. You’re doing the best you can.”

Tanaka ended up just writing _STEM majors_ because he figured everyone besides him and Terushima were STEM. 

When Mal drank, Tanaka asked “What’s your major?”

“Computer science,” he replied. Tanaka nodded, like he knew a lot of CS majors slash anything about the program.

“Do you like it?” Noya asked, smacking his lips after his drink. 

Mal shrugged. “It’s okay. Lotta jackasses but whatever. What about you?”

“Bio,” Noya chirped. He scraped the quarter off the box and flipped, still talking to Mal. “I kinda wish I was a history major, actually, but it’d be hard to switch now.”

For the rest of the game, Tanaka watched out of the corner of his eye as Noya and Mal got both physically closer and apparently socially closer. They both slowly stopped interacting with the larger group in favor of each other, almost missing their turns more than a few times until they stepped out completely and moved to the window. Tanaka wasn’t surprised-- when Noya got drunk, he either got extremely boisterous and gregarious or he focused on one person or thing. Normally, Tanaka was the person who was the target of that focus.

Tanaka was not too proud to admit to himself that this made him ever so slightly jealous.

“Woah, Noya has totally stolen your man,” Jess half-whispered to Terushima, who looked over at the pair.

“Ugh, whatever. I should have known this would happen.” He glanced over at Tanaka, almost with a worried expression, but Tanaka smiled back brightly. 

He wasn’t going to let it ruin his night.

A few rounds later, at the end of the game, Tanaka was happily buzzed. He felt the room moving hazily around him as he hauled himself off the ground to head to the bathroom. During the game, Terushima and Hana had kissed way longer than necessary when Hana’s bottle landed on him, Jess had switched shirts with Tanaka, and Alisa and Emma were watching some show on Alisa’s phone gleefully while occasionally chiming into comment of the pizza box game. 

Tanaka straightened his-- Jess’s-- shirt and made his way into the hall. He hoped no one would see him in the half-zipped velvet bustier, but he was more concerned about his bladder bursting than switching shirts back.

He was almost to the bathroom when he heard “Tanaka!”

He turned and frowned as Mal rounded the corner. “What?”

“Hey,” Mal said, walking over to join him at the bathroom door, “what’s your deal?”

Tanaka balked at the abrupt question. “Um, I gotta piss?”

“No, tonight you’ve been staring at Noya and I a lot. Is it something I’m doing? Like, do you and Noya…?” He moved his hands too quickly for Tanaka to track so he stared at Mal’s (gorgeous, okay) face.

“I’ve just had a weird day,” Tanaka supplied. “You’re fine, bro. Just don’t sexile me tonight and it’s chill.” The words felt heavy on his tongue but he smiled the brightest he could muster.

Still, Mal looked at him strangely. “You sure we’re cool? I don’t want Noya to be mad--”

“Mal.” Tanaka cut him off with a tiny glare. “I’m about to piss my pants. Unless you wanna chat at the urinal, just go back to the room and make out with my best friend, or whatever.”

Mal still looked conflicted, but nodded and turned back down the hallway. The urge to flip him off washed over Tanaka quicker than he could think, and he pushed through the bathroom door before he could act on it.

While pissing, he let himself get a little angry. This was supposed to be their night together, not Noya’s night with Mal, away from Tanaka. And how dare they show so little interest in everyone else, if it was too selfish to ask for Noya’s attention to be on Tanaka. And, while he was at it, how dare Mal not spend time with Terushima (he’d get mad for Terushima, too.)

And while washing his hands, it occurred to him that he really had two options. He could be mad and act pissy towards Noya and Mal the whole night, or he could get drunk and party like he’d planned. And, if he was really thinking rationally about it, he knew the second option was going to be more fun. So, resolutely, he smacked his face with his palms and promised himself he’d have fun. No moping.

When he got back in the room, Terushima was twerking to whatever song was playing while Jess and Alisa filmed. 

“Tanaka!” He waved him over. “Get over here!”

The phones turned to him and Tanaka flipped to entertainer mode. He walked towards the cameras and positioned himself behind Terushima. “ _I think I don’t like Mal_ ,” he whispered into Terushima’s ear as he pulled him closer. 

Terushima laughed. “I _know the feeling. He’s a hot bastard_ ,” he muttered back, grinding his ass on Tanaka’s thigh. “ _But I scored with Hana I think_.”

“ _It’s just because you have vodka_.”

Terushima pulled away from him with a scowl. “ _Rude, asshole_ .” But the corners of his mouth pulled up. “ _But maybe you're right_.”

Noya crashed into them, breaking them out of their conversation. “Foster?”

“Foster,” Tanaka agreed, and headed over to his desk to grab his keys and phone. “Let’s get fucked up for real.”

As soon as everyone else had piled into the hall, Noya grabbed Tanaka’s neck and pulled his head down to Noya’s level. “I haven’t forgotten,” he promised.

The spot where Noya’s palm and fingers had been burned long after Noya returned to Mal.

“Wait, Jess!” Tanaka called ahead. “I want my shirt back!”

The walk over in the now chilly night air was punctuated by Jess’s drunken singing of various Kanye lyrics-- not full songs. When they arrived, they’d heard multiple versions of Golddigger’s chorus sung at different tempos and Tanaka was almost ready to push her over. There were many reasons why Jess was more of a drinking friend than a regular friend, most of those reasons lying in the pure annoyance he felt after being with her for more than an hour. Luckily, the walk was a short five minutes and Tanaka didn’t have to endure much. And at least her singing kept him from looking back at Noya and Mal.

Tanaka drifted into a group standing out in the front lawn when they arrived, Hana and Terushima sticking with him while the rest splintered off. The group was Tanaka’s literature TA and a few of his friends who Hana knew well for some reason, and Terusima seemed keen on sticking with her. 

Tanaka’s TA, a soft spoken girl with a massive tattoo on her neck, greeted their group with a smile and they fell into a conversation about some professor that Tanaka and another guy had last semester.

“--and he didn't even bother telling us about the exam until five minutes before,” the other guy complained. Tanaka took a drink of some bottle of bitter alcohol that had somehow been passed to him before speaking.

“And he was acting like he told us weeks ago. Like I get that it was on the syllabus, but it wasn't even clear what day it was on.”

The guy turned to Tanaka with an emphatic nod. “Right? Basically, don't take a Stats class with John.”

Tanaka wasn’t sure how long he stood with the group as the conversation shifted away from the professor. Time stretched weirdly when drunk-- fifteen minutes could feel like five minutes, and the only indication of passing time was the slow emptying of the bottle as it passed between the people in the group. At some point, though, he got the sense he should find Noya. He decided to follow the compulsion, bobbing through the crowd with only one stop to talk with his roommate from last year, and made his way into the house. He kept an eye out for his current roommate’s familiar blond shock of hair. 

But the dancefloor was packed and held many potential distractions; after one such distraction caught him, he found himself dancing with someone he vaguely recognized after she trailed a hand down his arm.

She was cute, or at least cute enough to follow her to a corner of the room and cross the line from friendly dancing to a decidedly more sexual dance. 

She hooked her hands behind his neck, rubbing her tits across his chest and smiling coyly up through her lashes. He grabbed her hips and pulled her closer, so her forehead was brushing against his own.

“Claudette,” someone behind her said, pulling her away from Tanaka, “sorry, but have you seen Serena? She just ran inside and I can’t find her.”

The girl looked apologetically at Tanaka but followed her friend deeper into the house, leaving Tanaka alone in the corner. He then remembered he was also on the hunt for Noya and was about to make his way to the kitchen when a large hand grabbed his bicep.

“Hey, hey, hey! Tanaka!” Bokuto popped out of the crowd and clapped his shoulder. “I was wondering when you'd get here. Where’s Noya?”

Tanaka shrugged, then leaned in to be heard over the music. “Looking for him.”

Bokuto nodded, then grabbed his arm and pulled him through the dancing people. They parted easily for him, a couple of them waving or otherwise acknowledging the two of them. The hallway was slightly less crowded, and the kitchen was mostly small groups of two to four people talking. At the counter Kuroo (the other house convener and honorary bartender at Foster parties) was standing over a vat of some alcohol and dumping another bottle of rum in it. When he saw Bokuto approaching, he grinned. “Wanna taste this batch of succubus water? I’ll let you drink for free tonight, out of the goodness of my heart.”

Tanaka, realizing he left his own bottle back in the room, accepted gratefully. “Thanks,” Tanaka said. “But why's it called succubus water?”

Kuroo grabbed cups and filled one for each of them, then reached for their hands to mark with a sharpie. He saw Bokuto already had two slashes on him, which was not surprising in the slightest. “I don't know, I took a Classic Lit class once and all I remember is the word succubus. But this stuff does kinda just suck yet you can't stop drinking it." He stopped to wave at some guy passing by, then returned his attention to Tanaka. "I mean, I’m putting a cap of three because I don’t want the house to get in trouble. But if I wasn’t, you wouldn’t stop drinking it.”

Bokuto sipped his thoughtfully. Then took another drink with a thumbs up. “Tastes like alcohol and sugar.”

“Nice, good to know,” Kuroo said with a laugh. Tanaka tried his and, indeed, it did taste like alcohol and sugar. It was almost nauseating yet he found himself taking another drink anyway.

“Anyway, Kuroo,” Tanaka said as Bokuto joined Kuroo’s side and rested his chin on his shoulder, “have you seen Noya or Mal?”

“Noya, no. But I think I saw Mal heading to the back porch.” Kuroo jerked his thumb to the back of the house. “Noya might have been with him.” Bokuto’s hand was snaking across Kuroo’s chest.

Seeing this as his queue to leave, Tanaka nodded and waved goodbye. Kuroo was already dancing with Bokuto and clearly not paying attention to Tanaka. He brushed past them just as Kuroo’s hands settled on Bokuto and he heard him say “Have you been doing more squats lately, bro? Your ass is _tight._ ”

The crowd was thinner in the back of the house so Tanaka didn’t have to struggle through as much, though some guy did slosh a good amount of beer onto his shoulder as he passed by. 

“Sorry,” the guy slurred, stumbling forward and placing a hand on Tanaka, “sorry, sorry--”

“Don’t worry about it, man,” Tanaka soothed, lightly pushing him off back to his friends. He continued on, landing on the back porch. A quick visual sweep told him that neither Noya nor Mal were around, but he did spot Emma with a group. 

“Emma,” Tanaka called. She turned around, joint pinched in her fingers.

“Tanaka, hey,” she said blithely with an airy smile. Then held the joint up to him. “Want the last hit?”

The other people around her waved that he was free to have it. Shrugging, Tanaka took it from her. He wasn’t sure what exactly one hit was supposed to do, but judging by the state of the group around him, one might be all he needed.

He finished it off, holding the smoke in while he snubbed the butt on the porch railing. As he exhaled, he watched the cloud of smoke disperse into the dewy night air. For the first minute, he felt nothing as he watched Emma's group of friends joking around. Then, just as he was about to move on, was hit with a shaking wave of vertigo. He clutched the railing as Emma chuckled behind him. 

“Easy there. Need to sit?”

Tanaka shook his head, the vertigo passing to be replaced with a pleasant floating, and grinned. “That’s good.” 

Emma nodded to one of the people leaning against the house. “Arden has a good dealer. And this stuff plays nice in crossfade.”

Tanaka continued on, scanning the crowd. Finally, with a group under a tree, he spotted the pair, as well as Terushima and Hana. Mal has his arm thrown over Noya’s shoulders much to Tanaka’s initial annoyance. 

Tanaka beat back his reaction to march over and pull his arm off, instead focusing on the calm feeling his crossfade was giving him, and walked over like a normal friend. Surprisingly, the calm settled easily over him. Noya was fine, and whatever uncomfortable feeling he’d had about him before seemed to have passed when he saw that he was fine.

“Heyyy,” he drawled, popping up behind Terushima and letting himself melt into Terushima’s warm body, “how’s it going, everyone?”

Terushima looked him over, chuckling. “You smell like weed.”

“I’ve had a good night,” was all Tanaka decided to say before looking around at the rest of the group, lifting his cup to his lips again. Hana frowned.

“Do you feel okay, Tanaka? Should you still be drinking?”

Tanaka nodded. “I’m fine, Hana. I haven’t puked yet, and I haven’t really felt like I needed to.”

Hana hummed, then passed him a cup. “It’s water. Have a drink, please.”

After humoring her and taking a drink, Tanaka smiled. “Thanks, mom.” She rolled her eyes, but smiled back.

Noya leaned over, away from Mal, and reached for Tanaka’s cup. “What’s that you got?”

“A Kuroo drink,” he replied, then passed it to Noya, “very sweet and very alcoholic. Called succubus water.”

One of the other people in the group snorted. “Sounds about right.”

Noya drank deeply, nearly draining it, before passing it back. “Damn, Noya, leave some for me,” Tanaka quipped, finishing it off.

“I needed it more than you,” Noya supplied. Tanaka raised his eyebrow, but Terushima cut in before he could ask why.

“Okay, I wanna dance. I’m getting cold out here.”

Tanaka pulled out his phone. It was only a quarter to midnight, yet the lawn around them was already packed. Tanaka supposed that enough people had probably suffered during midterms that Foster was appealing to people who didn’t normally get attracted to his college’s night scene (which was not him and Noya, but he was glad to see the house thriving. Bokuto and Kuroo were probably happy, if they weren’t otherwise distracted.)

Tanaka let Terushima drag him away towards the house like a limp ragdoll. Once out of earshot of the group, Terushima sighed. “ _I_ _’m so glad you came by. I was seriously about to beat his ass_.”

“ _Whose ass?_ ” Tanaka asked. 

“ _Mal’s. I thought he was cool, but he’s just spouting shit now_ ,” Terushima hissed. _“Apparently he’s in a band and that’s all he’s talking about. I don’t know how Noya can possibly stand him_.”

Tanaka just gestured vaguely. “ _I’m sure he has his reasons_.”

“ _I’m sorry_ ,” Terushima blurted. “ _I didn’t mean for this to happen_.”

_“It’s fine, man_ ,” Tanaka said, “ _it’s really not a big deal_.”

“ _Really?_ ”

“ _Yeah, really_ ,” Tanaka assured him. “ _I’m really not mad_. _Besides, Noya is an adult and can do whoever he wants._ ”

This seemed to assure Terushima, who grinned widely at Tanaka before yanking on his arm again. “I really am cold. And I like the song they’re playing.”

They ran/stumbled their way into the house, bumping into more than a few people along the way. Once positioned on the dancefloor, Terushima grinded shamelessly on Tanaka until another one of his friends came by and took his place while Tanaka went for a refill in the kitchen. He saw that neither Bokuto or Kuroo were around, and the bowl was now being monitored by a very tired-looking Spanish house member. 

She nodded to him and grabbed his cup as he offered it, along with his hand.

“Are you the new bartender?” Tanaka asked teasingly. She laughed.

“Kuroo promised to be back once he finished smoking with Bo upstairs, but I’m not sure I believe that,” she said. “I’m kinda tired of dancing though, so it’s fine if I'm semi-permanent.”

“You might be here for a while,” Tanaka agreed. He looked out into the living room, where Terushima had smoothly switched partners again. It was good to see that he was having a good time-- even if his date had ended up being a loser.

“Tanaka!” 

Noya was weaving around the room’s perimeter, eyes trained on Tanaka. “Hey!”

Tanaka lifted his drink, then frowned. “Where’s Mal?”

“Somewhere back there,” Noya said, waving into the clusterfuck. “But I need you to help me.”

“Sure, what’s up?” Tanaka was pretty sure he knew what was coming and was already preparing himself to have to ask to crash with Bokuto or Terushima tonight. Sexile was upon him.

“I need you to kiss me.”

Hmm. Not how he expected this to go.

Tanaka laughed. “Why? Do you want Mal to get jealous? Seems a little early in your relationship for that.”

“No, I need him to get disinterested and leave me the fuck alone.” Noya rolled his eyes. “I wanna hang with you guys tonight, not him, but he won’t let me go.”

“And you think if he saw us kissing he’ll just go quietly?”

Noya shrugged helplessly. “I’ve tried hinting that I wanted space, but I don’t want to cause a scene so I can’t just be, like, ‘get lost.’”

Somewhere in the crowd, Tanaka heard a distant “Noya!” Apparently Noya did too, because he grabbed Tanaka’s arm. “I’m sorry, Ryuu, but please. I don’t want to have to ask Marianne and I can’t think of anything else to do. Hi, Marianne, by the way. Don’t snitch please.” He waved brightly around Tanaka. Marianne, the new bartender, waved back.

Tanaka, very briefly, did the mental calculations. There was something about this that seemed like a bad idea, but he trusted Noya’s judgement even if it was a little impared. And if he could help him out (and also maybe get Mal to leave as an added, but _minor_ bonus) he’d do it. And he'd always wondered what it'd be like to kiss him. So, mental calculations finished, he wrapped his arm around Noya’s waist, leaned him against the counter, and brought his face closer. 

It was frighteningly easy to kiss Noya. There was nothing that felt unnatural about it-- the second their lips touched, it was just how he’d imagined it could be and the world melted away. He didn’t feel the way his shoe soles stuck to the kitchen floor. He didn’t hear the sound of someone retching in the bathroom. He didn’t even notice the way Bokuto and Kuroo entered the kitchen with a clamor of “hell yeah” and “grab his ass” and a few hoots and whistles. 

Noya was clutching the back of Tanaka’s shirt like his life depended on it, lips moving slowly and deeply as he breathed shallowly through his nose. Tanaka’s drink was cradled in his hand, dangerously close to spilling, but all he could think about was Noya’s hands and lips and--

“Hey, what the fuck!”

Tanaka pulled back to see Mal’s flushed face in the doorway. “I thought you said-- Tanaka, what the hell?”

“Sorry, man, I guess I just realized I’m in love with my best friend.” Tanaka wasn’t sure if that was the right thing to say, but he was more or less just letting his mouth say whatever it felt like saying.

Noya stiffened against him. “Sorry, Mal. I should have said something, but I got it bad for Tanaka.” He peered up at Tanaka. “It’s just taken us a while to do anything.”

Tanaka blushed, stepping back so Noya wasn’t pressed in any more. Mal shook his head. 

“I fucking knew it. I tried being nice, but I knew you were lying.” He was staring hard at Tanaka now, and took a step forward. “I’m gonna beat your ass, so get--”

“Calm down, buddy.” Kuroo placed a warning hand in front of him. Bokuto stood behind Kuroo, frowning.

“Stop harassing my guests,” Bokuto commanded. “I don’t wanna have to escort you out.”

Mal looked at the pair, at Tanaka, then back to Bokuto and Kuroo. “I’m gonna talk to Paoloma about this. Let her know--”

“Let her know what?” Marianne cut in. “That one of our own housemates was threatening violence at a party that both Foster and Spanish were repping? You didn’t even offer to help out, by the way.”

Mal pressed his mouth in a hard line, gulping. “Noya, you’re a fucking tease.”

Noya huffed. “Okay, I met you, like, three hours ago. Get over it.” He took Tanaka’s drink and sipped. “And no one cares about your band. Your drummer sucks.”

“I’m the drummer!” Mal burst out, but shrunk back when Bokuto shuffled closer. “Fine, I’m going, I’m going. Have a good night doing whatever liars and friends of liars do.”

He broke through the small crowd that had gathered. Noya sagged against Tanaka, taking another drink from his cup. “That could have gone better.”

The crowd dispersed and Tanaka watched as the rumor mill started to turn as people returned to smaller groups to talk about what just happened. Tanaka plucked the cup from Noya and drank as well. “At least he’s probably gonna leave you alone now.”

Bokuto and Kuroo walked over to them, wearing expressions of mixed glee and concern. “When were you going to tell us?” Bokuto asked, flinching as Kuroo punched his shoulder. “I mean, you guys good?”

“We’re not really together,” Noya said, “I just needed Mal to leave me alone.”

Obligingly, Kuroo nodded. “Well, it was convincing. Let us know if he comes back.” Bokuto cracked his knuckles for emphasis.

“Thanks, guys,” Noya said as they melted back into the crowd. “And thanks, Marianne.”

“I can’t stand Mal.”

“Hey!” Tanaka felt a hand slap him on the back. “What’s this about you guys making out?”

“We were not making out,” Tanaka objected. Terushima's wide, bright smile fell and he narrowed his eyes.

“Okay, then what were you doing?”

“I wanted Tanaka to kiss me so Mal would leave me alone,” Noya explained.

“And how’d that go?” Hana asked. 

Tanaka waved his drink around the room while saying “Well, he’s not here, is he?”

“And now,” Noya flung his arms around Terushima and Hana, “we can all get wasted, as initially planned. Marianne, can I have a cup of the succubus water?”

“He drank practically all of mine outside,” Tanaka tattled to Marianne, “give him another mark.” At Noya’s betrayed sound Tanaka held up a placating hand. “You’re a lightweight and I don’t want you to die tonight. Midterms just ended, we have an whole other half of a semester left.”

The music raised impossibly louder, so loud it made Tanaka’s teeth ache and his legs shake, and he let the surges in the base flow through him. Terushima and Noya dragged Tanaka and Hana into the living room. After this, time froze and went too fast.

Tanaka wasn’t able to tell how long he was in there, dancing with his friends. His high had worn off, but the alcohol settled in his blood as a haze of comfort. He felt warm-- not hot, though the room was humid and he was sweaty. But he watched as his friends danced around him, singing and carefree, and he felt warmth like a fire spreading in him. 

And so he danced and drank and sang along at the top of his lungs. At one point he and Noya both puked in the bathroom, effectively deciding to stop drinking but went back to the party after rinsing their mouths with someone’s mouthwash they found by the sink. Once back in the living room, he helped Noya onto his shoulders, holding his legs as he shouted “Fuck midterms!” above the crowd. They cheered in response, drinks lifting into the air. 

Getting Noya back onto the floor was a lot less graceful, but once it was done he tugged on Tanaka’s sleeve. “What time is it?” He shouted in his ear.

Squinting against the bright phone screen, Tanaka read “One fifty.”

Noya nodded, then grabbed Tanaka’s hand. “Come out back with me for a minute.”

Tanaka nodded, tapping Terushima’s shoulder and gesturing that he and Noya were headed out, and followed Noya out back.

Once out on the back porch, Noya led them to a pair of rusty metal lawn chairs. “I just wanted to say thanks for what you did back there. With Mal.”

Tanaka shook his head slightly. “Don’t thank me. We’re friends, I have your back. It’s what friends do Noya.”

“Terushima wouldn’t have done that,” Noya pointed out.

“Terushima can be a wuss.”

Noya ran his hand through his hair quickly. “That’s not the point. Just let me thank you, Ryuu.”  
  


Tanaka leaned back, smiling at his roommate. “Fine, fine. You’re welcome.”

Noya laughed, then punched his arm. “Was that so hard?”

“It was excruciating.” 

Noya paused, seemingly unsure if he was being serious, before scoffing. “Asshole.”

“But I’m your asshole,” Tanaka purred, leaning in closer to Noya. He thought Noya might shove him back, but instead Noya hooked his foot around Tanaka's ankle with a small smile.

"I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm sorry I ignored you tonight."

Tanaka's heart banged in his chest, feeling the heat of Noya's bare ankle against his own, and mustered a casual smile back. "Don't worry about it. We still have a whole night ahead of us."

Tanaka locked eyes with Noya. He was looking so openly and softly at him, no bravado, and Tanaka knew he had to tell him. He couldn’t keep it from Noya anymore. It just felt _wrong_. He needed this to be done and over so he could finally move on. 

Was this the right time? Probably not. Was he heavily intoxicated? Sure he was. Was he not thinking it through? Maybe. But he couldn’t stop himself from grabbing Noya’s hand.

“Noya, I gotta tell you something. And you hope you’re not gonna hate me, because I know it’s not fair but I really don't want to lose you over this, but I can stay with Teru tonight if I need to, because I do understan--”

“Calm down, Ryuu,” Noya interrupted. “I’m not gonna hate you.”

This was the Noya that only Tanaka could see. Hair relaxed, eyes soft but intent, fingers ghosting over Tanaka’s knuckles. The Noya who called him Ryuu, the only one here in the US who did, and whenever he said it it felt like a secret. And Tanaka could be seconds away from losing him.

But he wasn’t a wuss.

“I like you, as more than a friend.”

Noya leaned back, hand slipping, and stared at Tanaka. Quickly, Tanaka bowed his head. “I’m sorry! I just felt so wrong lying to you-- like I love you as a friend, but also more than that. And I’ve been happy with how it’s been as your roommate and friend. I don’t need it to change. But I just had to let you know that I agreed to kiss you for kinda selfish reasons.” He let his shoulders drop, muscles relaxing finally, and clasped his hands together between his knees. He still didn’t want to look up. He wasn’t ready to see his face. He wasn’t ready for a soft apology-- _I’m sorry, but I don’t feel the same_ \-- or worse, disgust-- _And you let me kiss you? You're horrible_. 

He flinched at Noya’s touch on his arm. “Ryuu. Look at me, please.”

Painfully, he tore his gaze off the floor and looked at Noya’s face. It was still soft and open. No hard edges. “I’m glad you told me. I know that’s really hard.”

Tanaka shrugged. He knew the ‘but’ was coming, so he’d start deflecting now. “Well, I’m pretty sure my BAC is at least .15.”

Noya ran his hand through his hair, further mussing it up, with a harsh sigh. “You never shut up, do you? Let me talk.” He paused, apparently waiting to see if Tanaka would interrupt. Satisfied, he continued. “I know it took a lot of courage because I haven’t told a friend of mine how I felt, even though I like him more than a friend. I’ve been scared. And I should have done it a long time ago, because we’ve been friends for a long time. Roommates, even.”

This was worse than he could have imagined. Not only did Noya not return his feelings, he was also confessing his feelings for another person, his old roommate Ethan, to Tanaka. It was a hell that he hadn’t even considered.

“Cool. Yep. Well, if that’s all, can I go drink and hopefully forget we had this conversation in the first place?” Tanaka stood up and moved to leave but Noya blocked him.

“I’m not done. What did I just say about shutting up?”

Tanaka folded his arms, looking over Noya’s head. “I’m not really interested in hearing about your crush on Ethan right now.”

Noya grabbed both his arms and held him firm. “I’m clearly talking about you, dumbass.”

“I- what?” Tanaka’s brain wasn’t processing fast enough. 

“Can I kiss you?” Noya whispered. “Please.”

Tanaka could barely hear him over the pounding music and his own heart, but he nodded and leaned in for the second time that night, and closed his eyes. 

There wasn’t an urgency now. This wasn’t a performance, and had no audience. It was just the two of them, standing under a busted out back porch light while a party pounded in their ears, standing against each other.

Noya pulled back first, hand on Tanaka’s chest and smiling gently. “That was nine seconds, in case you care.”

“What? Oh,” Tanaka said, laughing. “Thanks for keeping track.”

Noya laughed too. “I don’t actually know how long it was. But it doesn’t count for the challenge.”

They stood silently, awkwardness settling on them. Tanaka coughed, rubbing the back of his neck. “So, do you wanna go back to the party, or… like, get waffles?”

They decided to wait and talk about everything that happened until they weren’t intoxicated, and that included not telling Terushima and Hana. They ended up finding Terushima and Hana and walked to the nearest 24-hour diner. There was one not too far from campus, so they didn’t have to shiver long in their fashionable but impractical clothes.

Terushima pried shamelessly when they were seated inside one of the uncomfortable plastic booths.

“So where’d you disappear to?” He inquired over his menu. Hana rolled her eyes, but she didn’t stop him. 

“I got sick and needed to step outside,” Noya lied smoothly. Then his eyes lit up and he turned to Tanaka. “Waffle eating contest.”

“Didn’t you just say you were feeling sick?” Hana said, brows creased in worry. Terushima, however, nodded gleefully.

“Do it, do it, do it.”

And so that’s how Hana was ignored and Noya and Tanaka ordered megastacks of ten waffles. 

“If you start to feel sick, please stop,” Hana pleaded, while Terushima pulled out his phone to film.

Tanaka was hungry, and since he had puked up most of what was in his stomach, he recklessly shoved waffles into his mouth without worry. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Noya doing the same, somewhat slower. Terushima gave them both a big grin and thumbs up from behind his phone while Hana looked sickly at them, though she was also filming.

“And that’s ten!” Terushima cheered, so loud that the only other group in the restaurant looked over. Tanaka looked down, confused. He wasn’t done with his stack yet, and neither was Noya. But Noya was putting down his fork and high fiving Terushima across the booth. And it dawned on him.

“You little bitch!” is what he tried to say. But his mouth was so full of waffles he ended up just mumbling and dropping crumbs on the table. Terushima looked over sheepishly.

“Sorry, but Noya promised me beer and a box of cookies if I helped.”

“When?” Tanaka demanded after swallowing. 

“When you were finding Hana before coming over here.”

Tanaka slumped back and glared at him. “Traitor. I thought you were staying out of this one.”

“Ah, but I was bribed with beer and cookies.” Terushima half-bowed his head. “I’m an easily bought man.”

Even though he was irritated that he had fallen for such an obvious ploy in retrospect, he laughed. “You got me. Well played.” He reached to shake Noya’s hand. “But I won’t lose next time.”

“Of course not,” Noya concurred, “and neither will I.”

All in all, Tanaka decided as Terushima and Hana bickered across from them and Noya’s hand found his under the table, this was probably one of the best nights he’s had in awhile. 

**Author's Note:**

> FIRST if you missed the first note: I'm opening up commissions for fic in exchange of donations to the BLM movement, please check my tumblr @goodgollywrites for more info and the deets. 
> 
> (I always write the longest end notes but i love reading author end notes so i'm hoping some of you do as well) this is the longest one-shot I've written and I don't know how it got to be this long lmao oops. ANYWAY thanks for reading! 
> 
> backstory: I go to a rlly small liberal arts school and i basically just described how a night out at my school would go bc while I appreciate the rest of the big uni fics I also feel like i need some small school representation and shenanigans of just knowing people e v e r y w h e r e and everyone being nosy. let me know if you'd be interested in more works in this series, I had fun writing this. i miss college, can u tell?
> 
> to be clear, Bokuto and Kuroo aren't in a frat (there's no greek life at my school so idk how it even works, it seems scary) but they co-convene a themed house on campus which is the closest thing to a frat I know.
> 
> Also every single name i used for an oc (besides Mal) is someone i go to school with bc i was lazy as hell when it came to naming this fic
> 
> anyways i debated whether to post this or not, because of everything that's going on, but i figured someone could use a mental break to read this. and i'm also still working on my WIP but my life is just a cycle of doing what i can with my limited energy and i'm going to a few protests these next few days so i'm not sure when it'll happen. but MPT is not forgotten!!
> 
> okay i'm done! ily all and stay safe and healthy best you can, you deserve a rest


End file.
